The Günzburg–Mindelheim railway (also known in German as the ''Mittelschwabenbahn''—Central Swabian Railway) is a single-tracked branch line in

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

which is approximately 55 kilometres long. The railway connects

Günzburg Günzburg (; Swabian German, Swabian: ''Genzburg'') is a town in Bavaria, Germany. It is a ''Große Kreisstadt'' and the capital of the Swabian Günzburg (district), district Günzburg. This district was constituted in 1972 by combining the city ...

and

Mindelheim Mindelheim (; ) is a town in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany. The town is the capital of the Unterallgäu district. At various points in history it was the chief settlement of an eponymous state. Geography Mindelheim is located on the river Mindel ...

via Krumbach and so the

Ulm–Augsburg railway The Ulm–Augsburg line is a German railway line. It was constructed as part of the Bavarian Maximilian's Railway. It was built for the Royal Bavarian State Railways as part of the east-west connection between Neu-Ulm in the west via Augsburg ...

(

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

Augsburg Augsburg ( , ; ; ) is a city in the Bavaria, Bavarian part of Swabia, Germany, around west of the Bavarian capital Munich. It is a College town, university town and the regional seat of the Swabia (administrative region), Swabia with a well ...

Ulm Ulm () is the sixth-largest city of the southwestern German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with around 129,000 inhabitants, it is Germany's 60th-largest city. Ulm is located on the eastern edges of the Swabian Jura mountain range, on the up ...

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...

) and the railway from Munich to

Zurich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

via

Buchloe Buchloe (; Swabian: ''Buechla'') is a community raised to town status in 1954, lying in Ostallgäu district in Bavaria. Together with the neighbouring communities of Jengen, Lamerdingen and Waal, Buchloe belongs to the ''Verwaltungsgemeinschaft' ...

Memmingen Memmingen (; Swabian German, Swabian: ''Memmenge'') is a town in Swabia (Bavaria), Swabia, Bavaria, Germany. It is the economic, educational and administrative centre of the Danube-Iller region. To the west the town is flanked by the Iller, the ...

and

Lindau Lindau (, ''Lindau am Bodensee''; ; Low Alemannic German, Low Alemannic: ''Lindou'') is a major Town#Germany, town and Lindau (island), island on the eastern side of Lake Constance (''Bodensee'' in German) in Bavaria, Germany. It is the capital ...

History

The Günzburg–Krumbach section was opened in 1892 and it was followed by the Mindelheim–Pfaffhausen section as part of the Mindelheim–Kirchheim railway in 1909. The gap from Krumbach to

Pfaffhausen Pfaffhausen (also known as Pffaffhausen) is a settlement in the municipality of Fällanden in the canton of Zürich, Switzerland. It has an elevation of 597 m, and lies in the valley between the northern flank of the Öschbrig and the southeastern ...

was closed in 1910. The section to Kirchheim has since been closed. The line between Gunzburg and Mindelheim has been threatened with closure several times, but it has always been averted. Between 1963 and 1998, a major reason for the preservation of the railway was that the southern section between Breitenbrunn and Mindelheim was used for the transport of oil by rail in tankers from the Bedernau oil field. General freight was closed in 1997. Passenger traffic is currently not threatened with closure, because the track has been modernised, reducing travel times and improving access to the main lines in Günzburg and Mindelheim. A total of six railcars of Class 642 of ''

DB Regio DB Regio AG () is a subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn which operates regional and commuter train services in Germany. It is a 100% subsidiary of the Deutsche Bahn Group and therefore part of the DB Regio business segment, which also includes DB Regionn ...

Allgäu-Schwaben'' have operated on the line from Augsburg since October 2001. Since December 2002, there trains have been accelerated and additional services have been added, sometimes running to

and

. The Central Swabian Railway is equipped with a new form of signalling used on branch lines called ''Signalisierter Zugleitbetrieb'' (SZB). Crossing stations are in

Ichenhausen Ichenhausen is a town in the district of Günzburg, in Bavaria, Germany. It is situated on the river Günz, 9 km south of Günzburg. History Early history The Lords of Roth had been feudal lord of the village since the early 14th centur ...

, Krumbach and Pfaffhausen, movements are controlled by the signalman in Mindelheim. The trains are parked overnight at Krumbach (Schwab) station. To speed up the operation, all stations except Gunzburg, Ichenhausen, Krumbach (Schwab), Krumbach (Schw) Schule, Pfaffhausen and Mindelheim have been converted to request stops.

Notes

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gunzburg-Mindelheim railway Railway lines in Bavaria Transport in Günzburg (district) Buildings and structures in Unterallgäu Railway lines opened in 1892